Ebony Soot
by cherrymilk
Summary: For #FFXVWEEK on Tumblr! Theme: tell a joke, or dreams. It's really early in the morning, Noctis wants to sleep, but curiosity gets the better of him when he realizes that Prompto has something up his sleeve.


Somewhere in the vast Duscae region, a small camp had been set up. There were two large tents, a small fire pit (that was still smoldering), and a very clean cooking station. The camp was also scattered with other knick knacks that seemed to have no place of their own. Inside of one of the large tents, Noctis was dreaming.

Or he had been, until he had heard a noisy rustling from his tent mate. He cracked an eye open, and noted the lack of sunshine filtering through the canvas tent. It was dawn, and for some ungodly reason, Prompto was awake.

"I'm going to kill you."

"Sorry, Noct." Prompto was speaking in a whisper. "Didn't mean to wake you. But, actually, now that you're awake…"

"No."

"You don't even know what I wanna ask! C'mon, you won't want to miss this."

Noctis didn't respond. Instead, he watched Prompto attempt to quietly unzip the front of the tent. Noctis closed his eyes in an attempt to ignore whatever it was that Prompto was up to, but curiosity got the better of him. When he opened his eyes again, Prompto was lying on his stomach and peering through a crack in the tent's entrance.

Noctis reasoned that he pretty much had two options at this point: he could either go back to sleep, or he could get involved. Frankly, sleep sounded like a much better idea, so he turned over and pulled the blanket over his head.

"Noct!"

"Prompto, shut _up_." Noctis' voice was muffled by the blanket. "If you need someone to keep you company, go bother Ignis."

He said this because Ignis was an early bird, who pretty much woke up at the crack of dawn every single day. It was a quality that Noctis actually appreciated, since he always had breakfast waiting for him. After his coffee, Ignis would immediately get to work – before his coffee, he was more or less useless.

"I'm trying to," Prompto said.

Noctis pushed the blanket off his head. "You'll probably be more of a bother if you actually leave the tent and go sit with him."

"Doubt it." Prompto lifted a corner of unzipped canvas before sitting up suddenly and crawling over to Noctis. He hovered over him. "Come watch."

Noctis' lack of response resulted in Prompto physically dragging him across the tent and to the entrance. That was how Noctis found himself still wrapped in blankets, but also peering out at the campsite. As he had suspected, the sun had barely risen, and only Ignis was up. Noctis watched him scoop out a heaping spoonful of a black, dense powder – Ebony coffee, Ignis' favorite.

"We're watching Ignis make coffee?" Noctis asked flatly.

Prompto grinned with a very mischievous glint in his eye. "It's not coffee."

"Alright, what did you do?"

Prompto was very clearly holding in laughter. "I filled one of his empty Ebony tins with soot from the fire!"

"Prompto!"

"What? One minute you're telling me to go bother Ignis, and now that I'm actually doing it you don't approve?"

"He's gonna kill you."

"It'll be worth it – look!"

Noctis watched as Ignis took a sip of his coffee. He found himself biting down on his tongue to keep quiet as Ignis' face displayed a series of expressions in a fraction of a second before settling on fury.

"Prompto!" Ignis' voice cut through the silent morning.

"Now what?" Noctis whispered.

"Now you cover for me!" Prompto replied.

"No."

"Thanks, man." Prompto was very obviously no longer listening. He waited for Ignis to turn his back, which he did while he angrily dumped his coffee out, before sneaking out of the tent. Noctis watched Prompto attempt to tiptoe out of the campsite before breaking into uncontrollable laughter. Ignis spotted him immediately.

" _Prompto_!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Prompto howled, with tears streaming down his freckled cheeks.

Noctis sighed from inside of the tent.

"Better stop Ignis from murdering Prompto," he mumbled to himself.

He left the tent, swearing to himself that he would never be up this early again, and began to feign ignorance while questioning Ignis about breakfast.


End file.
